Thank you Granville for your generous donations to support relief of the tragedy in Haiti!
As stewards on your behalf we take this responsibility very seriously, and would like to report in more detail how the funds will be applied.
One half of the funds are being leveraged for significant relief support and the other for longer term rebuilding. Both of these are being directed via relationships here in Vancouver or on the ground in the Dominican Republic. Both efforts will funnel through folks in the Dominican church.
1. Relief Support:
Granville is partnering with New Beginnings in Aldergrove, the ministry of Rev. Ed and Carol Baran, to send two 40 foot containers via Porta Plata in the Dominican Republic to Haiti.
A group of five Granvillites spent Saturday with Ed loading the first container. We had a blast with Ed and Carol Baran squeezing as much food, medicine, medical/dental equipment, and clothing into a 40 foot container as possible, remarkable how much we got in there. The dehydrated soup mix we sent will feed 680,000 meals, not the 60,000 first thought. And that was only a third of the container! We stuffed in medical equipment, other food stuffs, refrigeration and storage units for medicine with medicine and dressings stuffed in it, numerous boxes of tropical clothing, a brand new dentist chair, 6 wheelchairs, and more. We stuffed 3,800 protein bars in one refrigerated storage cabinet. We must have had 100 boxes of medical supplies, and at the end we stuffed 30 boxes of mini sponge footballs as a toy for kids to play with. Ed and Carol are always thinking of the kids. The cards lovingly put together by our Sunday school kids last Sunday, written in french, will go in the second container. These will be distributed to kids as they offload.
We raised enough relief funds to pay for half of containers shipment costs, the other half has been donated by others. There are no costs for labour, overhead, marketing. All money goes directly to shipping/transport costs. Also, everything in the containers is donated. Ed says the value of each container is roughly $800,000 to $1,000,000 in value. The best measure of course will be impact on lives. I cannot imagine how we can have possibly leveraged this funding for relief as significantly. Praise the Lord for Ed and Carol.
It was wonderful to sit with them after in their kitchen over coffee and hear more of the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit through their ministry, absolutely delightful.
While it may have been easy to donate to one of the many larger organizations, and doubled up with the government funding as some suggested, my sense is we have not only experienced greater leverage, but signficant relationship value, as the heart and spirit of this generosity and giving is made real in actual relationships and his glory is magnified beyond our imaginings. Praise be to God!
The first container left Monday and the second will be loaded this week. Partners in the DR church will ensure the relief is distributed where it is needed in Haiti. We look forward to the reports from Haiti!
2. Long Term Rebuilding
Granville has a long term relationship to the Dominican Republic church through many families at Granville including Joan Jung, Sharon MacIntosh, Mary Gordon, and via our Missionary partners Jim Cochrane and the Kents. Throught the work of Granville missionary families who have served in the DR over 120 churches were planted as DR leaders were discipled and released in ministry. Funds will be distrubuted through Distributing to the Necessity of Saints (DNS) Relief Fellowship and we are working via good friends of Sharon MacIntosh's in the DR. See as follows:
"Hi All:
I spoke to Manuel Medina from the Dominican Republic last night and told him about the money coming to them for the work especially with re-building churches etc. Naturally, he (they) were very thankful. The group of 46 travelled throughout the country assessing the situation and taking medical supplies, food and clothing. Due to the real possibility of illnesses, they each had to have shots in case of epidemics of different kinds. The team was made up of doctors, nurses, interpreters, psychologists, and others such as builders, contractors etc. Their time was spent mostly in areas where tents were set up.
As to building, that is one of their aims and as Manuel said, that will be an ongoing and long term project. First of all, Manuel said, they need to see to the physical and psychological and spiritual needs. There are a number of Dominicans and Haitians who work together in Haitian Assemblies in the Dominican Republic so they will be working together
Sharon"
May God Bless and be magnified through your generous Spirit!
Terry Robertson (on behalf of the Missions Team)